Treacy is denied bail in Deerfield teen beating case

FORT LAUDERDALE — Wayne Treacy, 15, charged with attempted first-degree murder in a savage attack on a teenage girl, heard his request to be freed on bond refused Thursday by a Broward judge.

Treacy's lawyer contended a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision banning life imprisonment for juveniles convicted of anything short of homicide meant Treacy was entitled to be released on bond.

State prosecutor Maria Schneider said the alleged offense is so severe that Treacy must remain locked up until trial.

Circuit Judge David Haimes came down on Schneider's side. "Quite frankly, I think it's close, but I do agree with the state," he said.

Treacy stared into the distance. His stepfather stormed out of the courtroom. The boy's lawyer said he would appeal.

Charged as an adult, Treacy is accused of donning steel-toe boots March 17 and stomping and kicking Josie Lou Ratley, 15, into unconsciousness.

Ratley spent much of her six-week hospitalization in a medically induced coma and suffers from brain damage.

Since being held without bail at the Main Jail, Treacy's look has changed dramatically. Now thinner, wearing wire-rim glasses and his mop top shorn, he looks less defiant, more vulnerable.

Because attempted first-degree murder is punishable by a maximum life sentence, it does not carry entitlement to bail. But in May, the Supreme Court banned giving juveniles a life term with no chance for parole if they haven't killed someone.

Seizing on that ruling, attorney Russell Williams argued that because Treacy no longer can be punished by life in prison, he should be granted reasonable bail.

Schneider disagreed, saying bail is based on the charge, not the possible sentence.

"Offenses are classified upon the severity of the offense and not the possible outcome," she said.

Haimes sided with the state, and Treacy will return to jail until trial, barring a reversal by the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach.

Treacy has conceded he rode a bicycle to Deerfield Beach Middle School to confront Ratley after receiving a text message from her phone telling him to "go visit" his dead brother.

His older brother's body was found hanging from a tree in front of a church in October.

Treacy has told psychologist Michael Brannon that when he received that hurtful text message "an explosion went off inside" and he put on his brother's pants, shirt and steel-toe boots and set off, Brannon testified Thursday.

Treacy suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the suicide, Brannon said.